Specialist in Blood Bank Technology and Transfusion Medicine Program

The American Red Cross, Southern California Blood Services Region offers a Specialist in Blood Bank Technology and Transfusion Medicine (SBBT/TM) program and is located at the Red Cross blood center in Pomona, California. The donor center collects, prepares, processes and distributes more than 300,000 red cell, plasma and platelet products annually. The location’s reference lab serves more than 150 local area hospitals as well as hospitals and blood centers across the United States.

The year long program incorporates all aspects of blood center operations, including whole blood collection, apheresis collections, blood component preparation and curriculum devoted to aiding in the solution of complex transfusion-related problems, including selection of rare donor units for patients’ needs.

In person, face to face one year program (January – December), taught by leaders in the field

Accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs www.caahep.org upon the recommendation of the AABB committee on Accreditation of Specialist in Blood Bank Technology Schools.

A certificate is awarded to graduates of the program, which allows the graduates to sit for the Specialist in Blood Banking (SBB) examination given by ASCP (American Society for Clinical Pathology) www.ascp.org.

Successfully completing this program and SBB exam will enable an individual to pursue many career paths; working in a hospital, immunohematology reference laboratory, blood center, governmental agency, or other health care related industry. Depending on an SBB’s interest and skills, roles in administration, management/supervision, clinical research, and teaching are possible.

Copy of transcrpt for baccalaureate degree and clinical laboratory training. Academic work completed at colleges and universities outside of the USA require transcript evaluation by an ASCP acceptable evaluation agency.

At least two letters of recommendation including one from current employer.

A one or two page essay of applicant’s goals for applying to the program and statement of career goals.

Applications should be received by October 1 prior to the start of the program.

Gina Leger obtained her training as a Specialist in Blood Banking from the Pacific Northwest Red Cross School of Blood Banking in Portland. She worked in Dr. George Garratty's Immunohematology Research Laboratory at the American Red Cross Southern California Region for over 20 years and was responsible for ongoing research and development of projects in the areas of red cell serology and immune hemolytic anemias, for publication and presentation at state and national meetings. Prior to joining Dr. Garratty's research laboratory, Gina was a Reference Specialist in the Reference Laboratory at the Southern California Region. Gina received a Masters of Science in Quality Assurance from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and is certified as a Manager of Quality and Organizational Excellence by the American Society for Quality. Gina is a member of the AABB, the California Blood Bank Society, ASCP, and the American Society for Quality. She served on several AABB committees (Technical Manual, Immunohematology Reference Laboratory Standards, and Quality Management Standards). She lectures and has presented and published many papers primarily in the areas of red cell serology, serological methods and the immune hemolytic anemias, and has written chapters for medical technology textbooks and the AABB Technical Manual.

Joy L. Fridey, MDProgram Medical Director

Joy L. Fridey, MD, completed her residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, and did her transfusion medicine fellowship at the American Red Cross in Southern California. Her career in Transfusion Medicine spans more than twenty years, and includes experience in community blood centers and hospital transfusion services. In addition, she has served as medical director of FACT-accredited hematopoietic progenitor cell collection facilities and one of the largest stem cell processing laboratories in the United States. She also has experience in pediatric transfusion medicine and both adult and pediatric therapeutic apheresis. She has served on numerous AABB and California Blood Bank Society committees, and on the Board of Directors of both organizations. She has lectured on a wide range of transfusion medicine and blood banking topics, and recently received the AABB President’s Award for her participation in the AABB/CDC Biovigilance Program.